Inflatable swimming safety belt

ABSTRACT

An inflatable safety belt is disclosed. The inflatable safety belt includes a belt including a means for buckling the belt about a waist of a wearer, a pair of pockets disposed in spaced relationship along a length of the belt and oriented toward a top thereof, and a source of compressed gas in fluid communication with the pair of pockets and the belt, each of the pockets and the belt being inflatable into an inflated chamber extendable around the waist and about the front torso of the wearer&#39;s body.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to personal flotation devices and more particularly to a swimmer's safety belt that can be inflated to provide at least one and preferably two inflated chambers extendable to a position proximate the user's chest.

2. Description of Related Art

Inflatable personal flotation devices are well known in the art and are described in U.S. patents issued to Dennis Brown including U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,321, U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,512, U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,279, U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,562, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,394,866.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,321 discloses a swimmer's safety belt including a substantially hollow belt, worn about the waist, and able to assume the shape of a life preserver in use, while allowing the wearer to swim to safety after entering the water. U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,512 discloses an inflatable swimmer's safety belt including a pair of belts, tethered together, to restrict the life preserver arrangement to rise up to the wearer's arm level, to hold the wearer vertically in the water and to thereby obviate the possibility of the life preserver moving over the shoulders and head of the wearer.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,279 discloses an inflatable swimmer's safety belt including a safety belt arrangable as either a life preserver or a life vest. U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,562 discloses a 2-step swimmer's safety belt inflatable into a life preserver and a life vest including a first, inflatable belt inflatable to a life preserver upon actuating a compressed gas cartridge and being fitted over the arms to the shoulders and neck area in forming a life vest when being donned. U.S. Pat. No. 6,394.866 discloses a one-step safety belt inflatable into a life vest and includes a flotation device that is capable of filling with a compressed gas from a cartridge coupled thereto so as to unfold and expand outwardly under action of the compressed gas which fills the flotation device. A belt of a jacket with an adjustable strap overlies the flotation device about the waist of a wearer and is coupled with it by a drawstring. When the flotation device is filled with the compressed gas, its length increases to that of a life vest which can be placed around the head and about the neck when being donned.

The disclosed safety belts of the prior art suffer the disadvantage of being expensive to manufacture and difficult to use. The safety belts of the prior art also suffer from unnecessary complexity in their design.

There exists therefore a need in the art for an inflatable safety belt that is of simple construction. There exists a further need in the art for an inflatable safety belt that is inexpensive. There is a further need in the art for an inflatable safety belt that is easy to use and comfortable to wear before inflation while swimming.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The current invention addresses the needs of the prior art and overcomes it's limitations by providing an inflatable safety belt of simple construction and design. The inflatable safety belt in accordance with the invention includes a flotation device having a pair of spaced apart inflatable chambers that, when inflated by a source of compressed gas, extend to positions proximate the user's chest to provide buoyancy to the user's upper body. Embodiments having a single or more than two inflatable chambers are also envisioned with according adjustment of the buckle and its placement when wearing (or elimination of the buckle is possible in an embodiment designed to be pulled on over the legs or head). In an embodiment, the belt is also inflatable and in fluid communication with the inflatable chambers that extend to the chest.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, an inflatable safety belt includes a belt including a means for buckling the belt about the waist of a wearer, a pair of pockets disposed in spaced relationship along a length of the belt and oriented toward the top thereof, and a source of compressed gas in fluid communication with the pair of pockets, each of the pockets being inflatable so as to become an inflated chamber extended about the front torso of the wearer's body when the buckle is centered about the front waist of the wearer.

There has been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described below and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended herein.

In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of functional components and to the arrangements of these components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein, as well as the abstract, are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an inflatable safety belt in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the inflatable safety belt in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the inflatable safety belt in accordance with the invention; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the inflatable safety belt in an inflated configuration in accordance with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings, which are provided as illustrative examples of the invention so as to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. Notably, the figures and examples below are not meant to limit the scope of the present invention. Where certain elements of the present invention can be partially or fully implemented using known components, only those portions of such known components that are necessary for an understanding of the present invention will be described, and detailed descriptions of other portions of such known components will be omitted so as not to obscure the invention. Further, the present invention encompasses present and future known equivalents to the components referred to herein by way of illustration.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention and with reference to the Figures, an inflatable safety belt 100 is of belt-like configuration including a buckle or clasp system 105. Inflatable safety belt 100 is preferably worn about the wearer's waist. Inflatable safety belt 100 includes a pair of pockets 110 a and 110 b disposed in spaced relationship along a length of the inflatable safety belt 100 and oriented toward the top 150 thereof. Preferably, pockets 110 a and 110 b are spaced so as to be disposed along the front of a wearer's torso when inflated.

A cartridge of compressed gas 120 is also disposed within the construction of the inflatable safety belt 100 and in fluid communication with the pockets 110 a and 110 b. The cartridge 120 may be activated in any conventional manner. Optionally, the cartridge may be easily accessible inside or outside the device (e.g., mounted in sleeve, pocket, or bracket) so as to be readily replaceable. Upon being activated, the compressed gas within the cartridge 120 inflates the pair of pockets 110 a and 110 b to form inflated chambers 130 a and 130 b. The belt is also inflated in an embodiment. The belt and/or pockets can be formed of an elastic material so that they can expand to a greater dimension, yet provide a more compact device. The belt and/or pockets may be pleated in addition to or in place of being elastic walled to provide for increased capacity and therefore consequent increased buoyancy.

Inflated chambers 130 a and 130 b are preferably disposed in upward extending orientation from the waist of the wearer. A pair of shoulder straps 140 a and 140 b are attached to portions of the pockets 110 a and 110 b respectively and provide a means for securing the inflated chambers 130 a and 130 b in place against the chest when inflated. While the chambers are in fluid communication to provide for inflation, one way valves can be installed between chambers to prevent loss of air in one compartment from disabling the device.

The device of the present invention has many advantages that result from its compact, sleek design. For example, the buckle may provide for size adjustment to slim the figure of a wearer. Or the device can come in different elastic lengths, designed to stylishly slim the figure of a wearer. The device may also be incorporated into swimwear, either permanently or attached into a sleeve in the waist of swimwear where the waist top seam opens upon expansion of the device. The device of the present invention is an attractive easy to wear accoutrement for swimming, in contrast to bulky or complicated floatation devices of the prior art. Hence, swimmers, such as children that may be teased for being cowards or poor swimmers if wearing a lifesaving device, or others that find lifesaving devices undesired or unflattering for various reasons, may find the device to be a desired, or even required, part of their swimwear.

It is apparent that the above embodiments may be altered in many ways without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, an optional inflation valve that can be inflated via mouth, with or without an extension tube, may be included should a user not wish to use the compressed gas canister or to supplement it. U-rings or other attachment mechanisms may be connected to the device for holding a knife, depth meter, flashlight, camera, keys, etc. At least one storage pocket with a Velcro® latch may also be included in an embodiment. Further, various aspects of a particular embodiment may contain patentable subject matter without regard to other aspects of the same embodiment. Still further, various aspects of different embodiments can be combined together. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determined by the following claims and their legal equivalents. 

1. An inflatable safety belt comprising: A first belt including a means for buckling the belt about a waist of a wearer; a pair of pockets disposed in spaced relationship along a length of the belt and oriented toward a top thereof; and a source of compressed gas in fluid communication with the pair of pockets, each of the pockets being inflatable so as to become an inflated chamber extended about the front torso of the wearer's body.
 2. The inflatable safety belt of claim 1, wherein said said first belt is inflatable and in fluid communication with said source of compressed gas. 